Europe shares edge lower ahead of U.S. GDP

By IBT Staff Reporter On 08/27/10 AT 7:08 AM

European shares edged lower in early trade on Friday and were on track for a third straight week of losses as investors remained concerned about the pace of economic recovery after recent grim macroeconomic data.

The market awaited the second estimate of U.S. GDP for the second quarter and a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who is likely to signal his views about the uncertain prospects for the world's biggest economy.

At 8:05 a.m., the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.4 percent at 1,016.32 points after closing 0.9 percent higher in the previous session.

We are going to have bumpy couple of weeks, may be even months ahead. We need to have some clear evidence for the U.S. economy to turn the corner to get people to look at the equity market again, said Franz Wenzel, strategist at AXA Investment Managers in Paris.

Energy shares were among the top decliners, with crude oil prices falling 0.5 percent on concerns about energy demand in the United States. BP , BG Group and Tullow Oil fell 0.4 to 2.9 percent.